Cultural origins 2009, Washington, D.C. | ||
Stylistic origins House
dutch house
reggaeton
dancehall Typical instruments Sampler
synthesizer
drum machine | ||
Moombahton (/ˈmuːmbətɒn/, MOOM-bə-ton) is a fusion genre of house music and reggaeton that was created by American DJ and producer Dave Nada in Washington, D.C., in 2009. Identifying characteristics of moombahton include a thick and spread-out bass line, dramatic builds, and a two-step pulse with quick drum fills. Occasionally moombahton includes ravey synthesizers and a cappella rap samples. Nada coined the name as a portmanteau of Moombah (a track by Dutch house DJ Chuckie and producer/DJ Silvio Ecomo), and reggaeton (itself a neologism combining reggae with the Spanish suffix -ton, signifying big).
Contents
Origins
Moombahton was created by Dave Nada in late 2009 while DJing his cousin's high school cut party in Washington, D.C.. He blended the house and club music which he had planned to play with the dancehall and bachata the guests were previously listening to by slowing down Afrojack's remix of Silvio Ecomo and Chuckie's song "Moombah" from 128 BPM to 108 BPM, to create the basis of the genre. Between late 2009 and early 2010, Nada worked on a five track extended play of moombahton tracks that was released in March 2010, with the support of the DJ Ayres and the DJ Tittsworth at T&A Records.
Though not referred to as moombahton, the concept of combining reggae/dancehall/reggaeton percussion with electronic elements dates back further than Dave Nada. Examples of artists which previously fused Latin and electronic dance music include Nadia Oh, El General, Masters at Work, Munchi, Luny Tunes, Jowell & Randy.
Moombahton has also been incorporated into existing styles of music, creating derivative genres such as moombahcore, a genre fusing the tempo and percussion of moombahton with the distorted sounds of modern dubstep.
Recent developments
In January 2012, Beatport created a chart for the top moombahton songs of 2011.
Moombahton creator Nada and collaborator Matt Nordstrom as Nadastrom (who toured with Skrillex in 2011) are currently based in Los Angeles but return regularly to DC to play the Moombahton Massive parties they established in 2010 at U Street Music Hall.
Moombahcore
Moombahcore is a style of different moombahton incorporating dubstep influences. Moombahcore also fuses elements of gabber, breakcore, techstep and dubstep. Moombahcore tracks often feature wobble bass, FM synthesis, distorted basslines, aggressive sounds, violent snares and leads, and complex percussion patterns.